Sunday, October 21, 2012

miRNAs and usRNAs Discovered in Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus Virions.


miRNAs and usRNAs Discovered in Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus Virions.


Sept 2012

Source

Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200025, China.

Abstract


It is widely held that any given virus uses only one type of nucleic acids for genetic information storage. However, this consensus has been challenged a little bit by several recent studies showing that many RNA species are present within a range of DNA viruses that include Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). RNAs extracted from purified DNA virus particles exhibit great diversity in terms of length, abundance, temporal expression, cellular localization, and coding capacity during viral infection. In addition to known RNA species, the current study showed that small regulatory RNAs were present in KSHV virion. A large number of viral and cellular miRNAs, as well as unusual small RNAs (usRNAs), were detected in KSHV virion by using deep sequencing. Both viral and host miRNAs detected in small RNAs extracted from KSHV virions were further shown to co-localize with KSHV virion directly by in situ hybridization (ISH)-electron microscopy (EM) (ISH-EM). Some of these miRNAs were differentially present in the host cells and KSHV virions, suggesting that they are not randomly present in KSHV virions. The virional miRNAs could be transported into host cells and they are biologically functional during de novo viral infection. Our study revealed miRNAs and usRNAs as a novel group of component in KSHV virion.

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